Here's another classic machine article, which I've just uploaded to our website. http://www.contrafedpublishing.co.nz/Historical/The+Schield+Bantam.html
Hey Bigger digger looks like you need some help here. I have a Koehring Bantam T350, the refined model of the T-35 that you are showing. I am in the process of restoring it, but as you can see that it still runs, so why not go out and dig something. I am having a great time doing just that, the restoration can wait for a few years yet as there is still lots of life left in the old girl.
Cools pic northwest41 , do you have any more , if so please post them I would love to see more! Thanks
Looks to be in real good condition for an old girl.
Great photo. Wabco man (the poster above) is the author of our classic machines articles - I'm just the lowly magazine editor!
I do maintainance on a couple of old T350S that are still in service
bantam Hi,, a newbie here.. I have a C450 Bantam hydraulic ex. It has the 53 series Detroit motor. Can anybody tell me what the approximate weight of this machine would be? I'm trying to come up with a suitable trailer for it.
I used to hang around with a kid whose Father had a Schield Bantam on a 6x6 truck chassis. He had the backhoe, shovel and crane fronts for it. He also had a TD14 and a HD16(I think that was the AC designation for it) dozer. He had made a tag trailer to carry the dozer on, one axle at the very rear with the deck dropped down to pintle hook height. He used to load the dozer by putting wood blocks beside the trailer and using them to get the tracks started up onto the deck, then jockey the machine around until it was lined up fore and aft. I don't know how he did it for a lot of years without dumping that dozer on himself.
very nice
C450 is a crawler right?? Prolly the easiest way to get a weight on the machine is to call an equipment mover they ussually have weights for most machines. None of the bantam books that I have shows a weight for crawlers:beatsme
Yes,, it's crawler model. Thanks for the info..
Both are very nice I found this one in a desert salvage yard.Check this out http://www.desertclassics.com/OtherTrucks.html Look for the Michigan
I just joined this forum, and your post is 9 months or so old, but if you have not got a weight yet. Model C-450. 4,000 lb. counterweight, long side frames, 24" shoes, hydraulic hoe attachment, 30" bucket,------27,000 LBS.
I posted an ad in Craigslist of a C450 for sale in New Hampshire the other day. If you contact the owners maybe they would know how much it weighs.I posted it for you to see.Ron G
Was there something wrong with the information I posted. I thought it came from a fairly reliable source. One picture did not scan too well, this is where I got my information.
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Thanks Orville ! I had not found that weight yet. I appreciate it..
I think its around 33000 with standard boom and stick...
"BANTAM TALK" I started running cable backhoes when I was in the 7th grade. My dad had a Quick Way Model J. He passed when I was 18 and I bought my first Bantam in 1961. Went to the factory and picked it up. I got to visit with Vern Shield at that time. I have had several T-350's. I am 78 years old and have a perfect Bantam C-350, serial 10245 also mfg. in 1961. It has the full vision cab. No crane boom on this one, just a hoe. Have 24", 30", 36" and a 42" buckets for it. The 30"is brand new, all of them came from the sand hills of Nebraska. I would love to post some pictures on this site but I don't know how.I would love to post some pictures on this site but I don't know how. I also have a 7 minute professionally done video of me operating it.
There is going to be a lot of help for you posting pics,please post them and let us see the video too.Thanks,Ron G
Ron, would you please tell me how to post some pictures and video's on this site, Thanks
Here is a link to the Support thread on the main page.If you have any specific questions fire away and if I don't see it someone will.Ron G
Here is a picture of the old girl. serial # 10245
Hi Nice looking Backhoe. This might be a little off topic,but theres a nice looking TC 350 Bantam crane for sale on Kiji in Yorkton Saskachewan.Just a tip for any Bantam enthusiasts.
Thanks, but I've had all the Bantams I need, everything from T-350, T-250, C-350 etc. Ihave had clam buckets, drag buckets, cement buckets, piledrivers and everything else that I could use on a bantam except a shovel front. I even had 80' of boom in one, tipped it over, because I didn't set my out riggers. I was lucky, the boom stops saved me, when the boom hit the ground and the boom stops were my salvation, the counterweight had to have been behind me and it rolled to the left, leaving me on the top side. If it would have rolled the other way I would have been underneath it.
I'd like to see some pics of your T-250, I own a T-350 and a T-450.
I have several pictures of my T-250, except I am 78 years old and the pictures are about 50 and I don't know how to put them on a site like this. The T-250 was my main machine for about 12 years. I was at every Minuteman missile site, 150 of them in western SD. asll crane boom, cleaning out the can, as it was called. A May blizzard almost filled some of them with snow. I had a signal man and 2 men in the hole filling a made over 55 gallon barrel with snow and a lot of tools. I still have several electricians pliers, sledge hammers etc, and lots of memories. Also had another Quick-Way J on a 1950 Chevy truck that a hired man dug and installed Auto gates at the 15 main control centers.
T350 Hi Heres my T350 doing some pilings for a small bridge.The job didn't warrant the mob for one of my bigger cranes ,so we rigged up a driving frame and an internal hammer to keep the weight down,tested it in the yard first..This way we could reach the far piles from one side.These are fun jobs, sometimes theres as much challenge as the big jobs.
Just interested in the serial # and year. Is it the 12 ton, 15 ton or what? I see it has the all vision cab. Oh ya, now I see the hydraulic outriggers. Must be the big 18 ton Koehring Bantam
Your right 36000 lb.s @ 10'.Ill find the serial # next week .Its agreat little crane to operate,but its hard to find jobs for it in this day and age.
I always thought the T-250 was a myth, I've only seen a few pictures and that's it.
Here is my 350 when it was brand new, and here it is now.
Cool photos bigshow . The 350 has found a good home for sure .
C-350 on you tube Hi again to all the Schield Bantam fans. I finally was able to find someone to put my 7 minute video of my C-350 on YouTube. Just type in, C-350 Bantam by R Grable. Hope it works!
Rich: Just saw the video, it looks great, nice clean trench. Too bad I don't seem to be able to that yet. More seat time I suppose. Anyway I noticed that when you where operating the crowd and hoist levers that they seemed to have a detent (as you did not have to hold them) built in. Was this the way that they came from the factory, or did you fab something up to have them do that. I am curious because on my T350 there are no detents or appear to be no detents, and I have to hold the levers at all times. makes life a little difficult. Let me know, I will see what I can do about getting a movie onto Youtube as well.
Thanks, if the levels are adjusted right, they toggle in is wording. The little lever that expands the clutch against the drum just snaps over the cone on the turning shaft. you will need to loosen the adjustment screw so that this little lever just goes over the hump of that cone. All the clutches are the same even underneath machine if yours is a crawler. Hope this helps you, if not I maybe could you explain it a little better if you need the help.
Here is a video of my T-350 digging. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4o-t8FFAsRw Grable is correct about the toggling in of the levers, it's a quick adjustment that makes life easier.
Finally someone agrees with this old man. The toggle in can be fine tuned with the clutch wrenches by loosening or tighting an 1/8th of a turn at a time to achieve the amount of pressure needed to keep the clutch from slipping. Example,.....crane work takes a lot less pressure to toggle for me that backhoe or dragline work,,,,,fun,fun,fun!
Hey guys, I'm new to this site so bear with me.I just bought a Bantam model M17 mounted on a 1949 Ford F5. I got the 4 cylinder International deck engine running today and it runs like a dream! The V8 flathead in the truck needs some TLC but its all there and not froze up.If anyone has any operating manuals on what levers does what I would appreciate it.thankyou
Don't know the first thing about a Bantam, but going through the same sort of issues with my P&H 440tc. Im sure someone that actually knows what they are talking about will post, but I'd be willing to explain the control pattern how it is on my P&H, imagine there would be a few similarities. No expert at all though.
Good morning, I am an old Shield Bantam man. There is a 7 minute video on YouTube of me running my C-350 Bantam. The guy that took the video actually got up in the cab with me as you can see which levers I pull for each operation. The three long levers are from left to right, swing, drag, and hoist. There are two other levers, the one with the handle facing left is the boom hoist when you have a crane boom on it. The other shorter lever is the house lock. Hope this information helps you, and don't forget to look the video up on YouTube. Title of it is "C-350 Bantam by Rich Grable"
Thanks Thanks Rich. Watched your video, very cool. Mine is a shovel, so the levers are a little different. I never realized how many grease fittings there are and you have to be quite the contortionist to get to all of them. Again thanks so much and this forum is awesome.
Thanks Rick, cool video. Mine is a shovel, so the lever pattern is a little different. I can't believe all the grease fittings and you have to be quite the contortionist to get to them all. Thanks again.
Oops . I'm still trying to figure out these new fangled computer things
As you're sitting in the operators seat the drum closest to you is the drag our crowd, the other drum runs with the right-hand lever it is called the hoist drum. I started running my Dad's quick way back home when I was 12 years old.
Nice digging Rich.I have a T350,set up as a crane.Ive also got a K12 Insley that I converted to a crane many years ago.I still have its back hoe front ,your video inspires me to to put the Insley back into its original state.I know its not a Bantam,but they are all interesting and demand real operating skills .
I ran a 3/4 yard Insley on a bridge crew when I was a senior in high school and the next year after I think it was an L, also they had a smaller Insley with a backhoe on it, was it a K? There is where I learned how to run drag bucket, and drive piling. I remember that the big Insley I drove piling with wasn't enuf machine for the hammer and leads. We put 100 sacks of cement on the counterweight. I could tell more stories if someone wants to hear them.
Could use a little more info on my 1949 Bantam shovel When I trailered my shovel from N Dakota to Montana the boom was facing backwards and the boom about half way up in the air.I now have both engines running good and machine is all greased and cables oiled.my question is how do I release the cables? Both foot brakes are depressed and locked..I believe the two small levers down low to the left of the seat with the locking mechanism that flips over the top of them has something to do with releasing them..any more info on preparing it for operating would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Yes those two little letters are drum locks. Pull the lever that operates a drum, Turn it just a little bit before you can release them.
Will do , thanks
Both swing clutches are stuck. I can't get them to release. How do they release? There are three small levers on the clutch mechanism. Do they go in towards the shaft to release? I think both clutches are stuck in the engaged position. It is trying to go two directions at once. Do you know where I can find manuals?
Also there are two large metal plates on each side of the swing mechanism. Are they supposed to separate when you engage the lever?
Hey Rich those are great stories.its always nice to hear how young guys used to get their start.Seems like we could learn something from that today in our over complicated world.
Complicated world today, complicated machines today, but easy to "drive". Real operators are still in demand.
Grable, there's a hydraulic truck mounted bantam excavator on highway 212 on the west side of belle fourche.
Good morning, nice to hear somebody is still interested in Shield Bantam's. I know about the one sitting in Belle Fourche South Dakota, there is also a T-350 in Newell South Dakota and an old T-350 that I used to own in Martin SD, both set up as cranes only. The one in Martin is the one that I upset with 80 foot of stick in it. oops!
bantam truck crane i have a 1957 t300 6x6 schield bantam 302 gmc down 6cyl continental up what are the two leavers on left of operator on floor for is it for crane engine clutch ???
what do i have. my dash plate says 300 its rated at 6 tons 6x6 gmc carrier 302 6cyl down 6cyl Continental up 1957 mfg. where do y-all get this t350 and such from thank you mike
my bantam truck carrier says 300 cran plate says t35 with ser number of 7907 what do i have thank you jon
Hi again, finally was able to get logged in again on this Heavy Equip site. Will try to get some pictures of Vern Shields Bantam #1 for all you Bantam lovers. It made my day when I found it!
Here's a picture of Verne Schields Bantam number one, I am only going to load one of the time as I have several them and I don't want to screw things up.
Second picture of Bantam 1
3rd picture of Bantam #1
3rd picture of Bantam #1